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| Light Ship Columbia | ||||||||
| Retired but proud | ||||||||
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Literally a floating lighthouse, the Light Ship Columbia guarded the mouth
of the Columbia River, standing off shore at the entrance to the
shipping lane, just beyond the Columbia Bar, known by shipping captains
as the most dangerous in the world. Some 2,000 vessels since 1792 met their fate and now rest on the bottom of the sea, including over 200 "Large" ships, with a loss of life also in the thousands. These dangers have earned the area the title "Graveyard of the Pacific". The sturdy Columbia stood guard on the Bar for almost 30 years, providing a welcome guide into the River with its combination of Light, Fog horns, and radio transponder. |
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The Columbia is held in a "At Ready" condition, and is a backup for the
Buoy that replaced the sturdy ship. The anchor is a "Mushroom" type anchor... the seabed in the mouth is muddy, and a traditional anchor wouldn't be much good. |
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The ship is, first and foremost, a lighthouse, and it sports a 5th Order
Lens on its main mast, backed up with a fog strobe just beneath it. Its beam could be seen for about 15 miles... pretty impressive! |
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Life on the ship was a combination of maintenance and boredom... the ship
didn't go anywhere, and would be on station for months at a time, while
the crew rotated on a bi-weekly schedule, 2 weeks on the ship, and 4
back at port. The craft was built in Boothbay, Maine, and was launched in 1950. |
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The galley was well equipped, and by the menu they had displayed on the
wall, the crew seemed to eat pretty well! Saturday's Steak and
Lobster Tails seemed to be pretty good, as did Sunday's New England
Boiled Dinner... Good Stuff! One thing that struck me about the Galley was the hatch where the food was served... you could imagine the crew lined up in the eating area, complaining to the cook about the portions... Another interesting item in the Galley was the refrigerator... a perfectly normal, every day General Electric, accompanied by a normal looking trash compactor. |
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The areas were quite small. A crew of 18 shared these spaces for two
weeks at a time...
The radio room doubled as the operations center, and was where the management of the ships took place. Apparently, this was the one busy place on the ship. |
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The ship is ready to go... the mattresses are still on the bunks, with the
oversheets in place. Even the room's Inventory placards are there... I like how they even list the Doors... Small living quarters.. these guys had better of gotten along! |
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It was cool to compare the pictures of the crew in the various rooms along with the room as it currently sits... not much has changed on the bridge, it seems. | |||||||
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The deck is pretty simple... but then the ship simply provided the
platform for the light towers, so I guess there didn't need to be
much...
The life boat wasn't mounted, but apparently the ship is sea worthy, so one must be close at hand. The Columbia sits at a mooring at the Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon, ready to take its old station if called back into duty... |
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| It's a fun visit, and a great opportunity to see how the crew lived back when the ship was on active duty, providing a light to those who needed it. |
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